Coventry born Cal Crutchlow finished fifth in the Gran Premio bwin de España at Circuito de Jerez,
Despite crashes in practice and qualifying, the Monster Yamaha riding Crutchlow started in fourth but dropped to fifth on the opening lap.
It was there he stayed in a race won by Dani Pedrosa.
After the race, Crutchlow said: "Fifth place today is not a bad result considering everything that has gone on before but it’s not exactly what we expected. I was fast all weekend but after the two crashes yesterday I think it’s a very good result to remain the best of the rest.
"I did not feel very confident with the front-end in the race, but I think all Yamaha’s struggled in this area. I think in the middle of the race my pace was good and I started to push but with the full fuel tank I could not stop the bike and I had no grip, so I lost quite a bit of time in the early laps.
"Physically I had no problem on the bike for the race distance although I had a little bit of pain in my lower back. It has been a difficult weekend in many respects so I am very satisfied with fifth because probably last year I would not have finished the race in the same situation and that’s for sure an improvement."